Max Height?

So went pretty much straight up with my copter yesterday. No mods, got to about 850 feet at which point control signal was lost. I had my range extender flat part pointing at the drone and the 2.4ghz control antenna parallel with the ground so as to not have the null zone on the copter.

Why was control lost so early? This seems like quite a small distance to what i was expecting? I have read a few threads which seem to indicate going straight up isnt great but i dont get how it makes any difference so long as you set up your control antennas to compensate?

sounds about like what has been happening to me to. I look at people like Dirty Bird who fly to 2400ft up with no problem and scratch my head. I think he is the exception though. I've made it to 1100 ft before LOS occurring. I'm going to play around with antenna settings and getting the aircraft further out from me the next times I make a run at 1000 ft, hopefully 1500ft.

So went pretty much straight up with my copter yesterday. No mods, got to about 850 feet at which point control signal was lost. I had my range extender flat part pointing at the drone and the 2.4ghz control antenna parallel with the ground so as to not have the null zone on the copter.

Why was control lost so early? This seems like quite a small distance to what i was expecting? I have read a few threads which seem to indicate going straight up isnt great but i dont get how it makes any difference so long as you set up your control antennas to compensate?

Click to expand...

Isn't your range extender for the camera wifi not the radio in the quad? Have you made sure you are in FCC mode, 2 beeps when you turn on the transmitter? Also it should show in software. I have heard that to really put the transmitter in FCC mode you need to open the transmitter up and rotate the pod from that point of view. I do wonder if that is true or not.

So went pretty much straight up with my copter yesterday. No mods, got to about 850 feet at which point control signal was lost. I had my range extender flat part pointing at the drone and the 2.4ghz control antenna parallel with the ground so as to not have the null zone on the copter.

Why was control lost so early? This seems like quite a small distance to what i was expecting? I have read a few threads which seem to indicate going straight up isnt great but i dont get how it makes any difference so long as you set up your control antennas to compensate?

Click to expand...

Isn't your range extender for the camera wifi not the radio in the quad? Have you made sure you are in FCC mode, 2 beeps when you turn on the transmitter? Also it should show in software. I have heard that to really put the transmitter in FCC mode you need to open the transmitter up and rotate the pod from that point of view. I do wonder if that is true or not.

Click to expand...

Yes it is, just stating that was also set as it should be. Controller is in FCC mode, 2 beeps yes. I changed mine in software only and not on the pot on the back.

So went pretty much straight up with my copter yesterday. No mods, got to about 850 feet at which point control signal was lost. I had my range extender flat part pointing at the drone and the 2.4ghz control antenna parallel with the ground so as to not have the null zone on the copter.

Why was control lost so early? This seems like quite a small distance to what i was expecting? I have read a few threads which seem to indicate going straight up isnt great but i dont get how it makes any difference so long as you set up your control antennas to compensate?

Click to expand...

Isn't your range extender for the camera wifi not the radio in the quad? Have you made sure you are in FCC mode, 2 beeps when you turn on the transmitter? Also it should show in software. I have heard that to really put the transmitter in FCC mode you need to open the transmitter up and rotate the pod from that point of view. I do wonder if that is true or not.

Click to expand...

Yes it is, just stating that was also set as it should be. Controller is in FCC mode, 2 beeps yes. I changed mine in software only and not on the pot on the back.

Click to expand...

I wonder if we have really enabled a different control mode or just changed the beeps????

Flying directly over head will almost always yield the worst results for height. Sent it out a few hundred feet and then head upwards. You will get a lot higher than straight over head. Another test to try is to send it straigh up while you are standing, then test how high up you get if you are lying on your back facing straigh up.

Flying directly over head will almost always yield the worst results for height. Sent it out a few hundred feet and then head upwards. You will get a lot higher than straight over head. Another test to try is to send it straigh up while you are standing, then test how high up you get if you are lying on your back facing straigh up.

Flying directly over head will almost always yield the worst results for height. Sent it out a few hundred feet and then head upwards. You will get a lot higher than straight over head. Another test to try is to send it straigh up while you are standing, then test how high up you get if you are lying on your back facing straigh up.

Just took my newest PV2+ for an altitude test. Took the Phantom about 200 feet south of me then started ascending. Like my other Phantom 2 V + once I hit 1000 ft, loss of signal. This time I didn't fight back for control like a dumbass the first time I had LOS at 1000ft, I let Fail Safe do its job until it got down to about 500 feet and I took back over. I had the antenna in about the best position I thought, straight up, and the Wi-Fi booster pointing right at the Phantom. So, what can I do to maintain 1000 feet and fly around? I don't know. I don't think its a hardware or software problem. Perhaps environmental? I might try pointing the antenna back towards me by about 15 degrees, or one click. That's the only thing I can think of. Luckily, there isn't much need to be flying around at 1000ft or higher. I have video of all this and a nice sunset, but don't think its really worth posting unless someone wants to see it.

It could be environmental. Every controller and Phantom is going to be a little different also. Try flying further away from yourself. Do a 1.1 or 2.1 ratio of height to distance. If you are only a couple hundred feet away, you are still near the narrow edge of the Phantom's antenna. On my Highpoint Park video I was 1000' up and 5800' out with a stock bird.

Watching my video, which I'll post here shortly, I realized that even though I had flown 200 ft away from myself, during ascension, she must have moved back toward me because when Fail Safe kicked in, the she didn't have very far at all to go before the automatic descent started. Pretty clear that I should have been further out. I don't know why but I get as nervous as hell every time I try to reach 1000ft. I shouldn't though, because the Fail Safe proves it's self time and time again. Thank Mako and Dirty Bird.

Watching my video, which I'll post here shortly, I realized that even though I had flown 200 ft away from myself, during ascension, she must have moved back toward me because when Fail Safe kicked in, the she didn't have very far at all to go before the automatic descent started. Pretty clear that I should have been further out. I don't know why but I get as nervous as hell every time I try to reach 1000ft. I shouldn't though, because the Fail Safe proves it's self time and time again. Thank Mako and Dirty Bird.